


take the pain away

by koganewest



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandonment, Angst, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Blood, Crying, Explosions, Fever, Hallucinations, Hostage Situations, Hurt Keith (Voltron), I apologize in advance, Isolation, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Neglect, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Public Humiliation, Torture, Trust Issues, Whipping, Whump, feel free to skip around, gonna be so many tags, i project onto these boys, kangst, non con stripping, none are related, prompts and characters labeled, some of these are klance, they both get hurt a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-05-31 21:20:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 13,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15128057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koganewest/pseuds/koganewest
Summary: a collection of oneshots for bad things happen bingo!chapter title with be the prompt and character. some are shippy (klance) and will be labeled. most are keith-centric





	1. Hostage Video - Keith

**Author's Note:**

> come visit my [tumblr](https://koganewest.tumblr.com/)! hope you enjoy these!

When the Blade had contacted the castle with news that Keith had been captured, the team immediately panicked.

But when their screens had all flickered for a moment before revealing one of Haggar’s generals, an eerie quiet settled upon the paladins. They all knew what was next. They’d been through this before. The scream they heard in the background just solidified their worries. “You want to see your friend alive?” The general questioned, practically snarling. “Bring me the lions.”

“And if we don’t?” Allura demanded, slamming her fists against the table. The general’s yellow eyes remained unwavering, focused on the screen, as he snapped his fingers.

A sentry dragged a limp body into view, and Lance would recognize that mullet anywhere. “Keith!”

The sentry kicked him in the side, while forcing his head up to make eye contact with the screen. His eyes were barely open, one swollen with bruising. He had a large gash running from his forehead, through his left eyebrow, down his cheek. Blood seeped out of it and down his face, slow and thick and daunting. Pidge swallowed nervously, but their hands curled into protective fists. The Galra were going to pay for hurting Keith.

“For every day you fail to bring me Voltron, your precious teammate will pay,” the general informed with a malicious smirk. He paused, surveying each paladin’s reaction, and then continued. “And you all will watch.”

“NO!” Hunk shouted, but the feed cut off and Keith was gone with the general.  
__

The castle’s inhabitants had searched vehemently for a way to track Keith down without giving the lions, to rescue him, but their efforts were all for naught when the video feed cut back in the next day.

Keith was strapped to a chair, looking just as beaten as he had the previous day. There was a sentry at both his sides, and a guard behind him. For a brief moment, Keith looked up to where the camera was situated. “Do not give in.”

His instruction was so steady that Coran barely believed it was him speaking, but no one had time to contemplate what Keith said. They were interrupted by his screaming. And, god, none of them had ever heard a person scream like Keith was screaming. His body jolted and convulsed, seemingly being electrocuted but worse.

And then it stopped.

“Send the lions and he will be freed,” the same general informed from somewhere off screen. All they could see was Keith, breathing heavily and trying to regain a grasp on his composure.

“I’m fine, don’t risk anything!” Keith panted, looking back up at the camera. The desperation in his eyes was painful, nearly unbearable.

But then he began screaming, convulsing, until the feed cut off. Silence resonated among them briefly. And then they resumed their planning.  
__

The next day, they still had nothing. There was no denying that they couldn’t trade the lions in. It was too stupid, too dangerous. As much as they didn’t want to admit it, the lions were much more important than one person, than Keith.

Still, this didn’t make the resumption of the video feed any easier.

Now, Keith was sat in the middle of the same room, bare-chested, bruises littering his pale skin. The general stood behind him, something in his hand that they couldn’t quite see.

It was easy to guess, though, as the general raised his arms and then lowered them. The cracking sound, followed by a shout from Keith, was enough indication: he was being whipped.

The general repeated the motion, over and over and over, until Keith was screaming. His voice was raw and barely-there by the time he finally passed out from the pain. He laid there, limp and lifeless, as the general continued to whip him. Eventually he got bored at the lack of reaction and moved to leave.

Coran was shouting at the monitors, begging Keith to get up. He didn’t move at all.  
__

The next day, Keith wasn’t in sight at first. There was just an empty room, walls bare and pristinely white. And then, in stumbled Keith, barely walking properly. The room turned dark, and Shiro saw himself in the corner, along with the other paladins. The look on Keith’s face brought tears to Allura’s eyes.

They were playing mind games on him with the same technology the Blade used in their trials.

Keith desperately managed to get to fake-them, fell into fake-Hunk’s grasp. His voice was weak when he spoke, barely above a broken whisper. “You guys came for me. I was st-starting to think that you’d, that you guys would never come.”

And with that, fake-Hunk dropped Keith while fake-Lance snarled in his face. “We aren’t here for you. We don’t need you, not anymore. You were never a part of this team!”

“Funny that you thought of us as your family. Don’t you get it, Keith?” Fake-Allura laughed, “You are temporary, expendable, worthless, but most of all, pathetic. You will never have a family!”

“STOP!” Allura screamed at the monitors, clawing desperately at the control panels. By now, they’re watching Keith’s eyes well up with tears and, oh god, he’s crying.

The feed cut off once again. They would’ve been embarrassed to admit they all sighed in relief. 

They didn’t talk about what they saw. The general informed them the next day that they were using Keith’s mind against him, just for fun, just for experimentation. The goal of the torture was to use Keith’s greatest fears against him. Sometimes it was old foster homes, but, more often than not, what they saw was the team rejecting him.

It continued for three days before the next part of torture began: dehumanization. 

“Who are you?” The general demanded of Keith as the video feed played.

“No one.” The response was instantaneous, as if programmed. Keith’s face was devoid of expression, emotionless, and it made the paladins watching feel uneasy. All the fire that Keith’s eyes used to hold was gone. He seemed to be barely a shell of who he was.

“And what are you?”

“Nothing.”

The feed cut off. Lance isn’t sure if he’s more grateful or nervous.  
__

The next day, Keith was in a pile in a cell. He was surrounded by a pool of what seemed to be his own blood. The general held a knife to Keiith's throat, just barely drawing blood. He had a black eye, but Keith looked much worse.

“My prisoner tried to escape,” the general informed the cameras. “Now he will pay.”

The paladins let out their drawn breath as the general removes the knife from Keith’s neck. But in his other hand, which no one had noticed beforehand, he held a searing hot piece of scrap metal, forged into the letter ‘G’. He yanked aside Keith’s shirt, and stuck the scalding metal to his collarbone.

Keith’s scream is deafening. By the time he general finished, Keith’s skin was covered in white hot ‘G’s, and he was twitching in a pain-induced delirium.

Hunk throws up when the video feed ends seconds later.  
__

When the paladins returned from a mission the next day, they noticed they had a message from the general’s base frequency.

They all let out a collective gasp when they see Keith, alone in a darker room. He looked barely alive, sunken in cheeks enunciating his starvation. He can barely speak without strenuous effort.

“I’m going to,” he breathes heavily, quietly, “I’m going to die. Wanted to say….I love,” he can barely talk. “Love you g-guys.”

And the feed ends. For the last time.


	2. Nightmares - Klance

He was running. Running so fast he could barely breathe, through hallways with seemingly no end. He was being chased, from whom or what he did not know, but he did know his life depended on it.

Purple light glowed around long halls, but Keith paid no mind. He just kept running, running, running, until he ran smack into a wall. The halls hand ended. He was trapped.

Too frightened to face the imminent danger, Keith cowered, waiting for the footsteps to reach him. He knew the danger was approaching fast, so he turned as fast as he could, knife drawn, and found himself face to face with his worst nightmare: Shiro.

Except it wasn’t quite Shiro.

His eyes glowed yellowish, and his face was not quite what Keith remembered. His expression was twisted into a snarl, daunting, as he raised his prosthetic hand to Keith’s throat, poised to kill him…

And then he woke up.

He was back in his room at the castle, panting heavily and covered in a cold sweat. He felt like he needed to scream, to hide, to throw up, but he ignored all of it in favor of exiting his room.

He was on his way to Shiro’s room to check on him when he ran straight into someone. Just as he was about to yell, he noticed it was just Lance, holding up both hands warily. “What are you doing out here?”

“Could ask you the same thing,” Lance returns, seemingly just as startled. So Keith drops his guard, lowering his shoulders and turning to walk side by side with Lance, when the other boy speaks again, softer this time. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

“Nightmare,” Keith blurts, unable to look him in the eye as they walk in the direction of the kitchen. “Shiro was, uh, trying to kill me,”

he explains while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He drops his gaze to their feet, Lance’s bare and Keith’s socked.

“Oh,” is all Lance says. Then, “I’m sorry.”

Keith just shrugs, then nudges Lance’s side with his own, urging him to share. “Your turn.”

“Just can’t sleep,” he admits, mirroring Keith’s sulkily. Both boys look exhausted, posture slumped and arms hanging. It’s quite pitiful. “I’m worried about Earth, and my family, and everyone we left behind.”

Despite wanting to comfort him, Keith doesn’t really know what to do, so he just presses his shoulder into Lance’s and hopes it helps. The thin material of his tee shirt allows him to feel the warmth of Lance’s skin, but not much else. Still, it’s comforting.

They don’t say anything else, just walk to the kitchen in silence, still pressed together. Lance pours the both a glass of milk and they sit. And they think. And they relax. And they drink milk.

And they do it again the next night. And it becomes routine.

Sometimes they meet in the kitchen, both looking for some way to forget, to unwind in the presence of another. Sometimes Keith leaves his room and finds Lance pacing outside his doorway, on the verge of breaking. Sometimes when Keith wakes up screaming, and Lance pounds on his door until Keith opens it, who falls gracelessly into Lance’s arms and begins sobbing.

But most times, they laugh and tell stories and share dreams and reminisce. Most times, they enjoy each other’s company. Most times, Keith is more than grateful to have someone like Lance around.

Though he admittedly may not have a lot to compare to, Keith thinks Lance is the best friend he’s ever had.


	3. Hallucinations - Keith

When Keith finally came to, he found himself chained to a wall.

The room was damp and dark, the floor cold and wet beneath him. When he lifts up his wrists, he feels the metal digging into his skin and blood seeping from the cuts. Incessant pounding in his head blurred his vision, forcing him to squint. There were footsteps outside the locked metal door that seemed to be pacing back and forth, back and forth.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there - minutes were practically indecipherable - but eventually there was a loud thud that jostled him out of a trance. And then, the door opened to reveal a sentry.

There was enough light filtering in that Keith could see a large syringe in it’s hand. Without thinking, Keith _screamed_ as loud as he could, but it did nothing to deter the sentry that approached him dauntingly. It held the needle up to his neck, injecting him until there was nothing. Just darkness.

And then, Shiro’s face.

“Hey, buddy, you alright?” Shiro leans down and offers him a hand. Keith barely notices that he’s no longer chained up, no longer in pain, no longer in a prison cell. He’s just so happy to see Shiro. 

It’s then that he notices the rest of the team is present as well. Pidge is smiling at him, along with Hunk, Coran, and Allura. He’s nearly knocked out when Lance pulls him into a hug, squeezing him like he’s the most important person in the world.

Something is amiss.

But the inkling Keith feels is quickly drowned out by the smell of Lance, the warmth of Shiro’s gaze, the happiness in his team’s smiles. He just lets himself enjoy the moment, enjoy the feeling.

But just as quickly as he got there, it’s gone. He’s thrown back into the cold darkness, until he finally wakes up again.

When he blinks his eyes blearily, barely able to open his right eye due to swelling, he is surprised to see Haggar and her underlings talking, but they don’t notice he’s awake.

“We didn’t learn much, high priestess. Shall I put him under again?” Put Keith under? What does that mean? Was that not real? Why is he here?

“His bond with the leader can be exploited to our advantage,” Haggar responds. “The same goes for the blue paladin.” Why is she talking about his team? What is she going to do to Shiro and Lance. Keith readies himself to fight them, begins to stand, but is restrained by both cuffs and searing agony. Lowering his gaze, he notices his right leg is twisted abnormally. He can’t dwell on it for long though, because Haggar is barking another order. “Inject him again!”

This time, he tries to fight it, but darkness takes him anyway.

The hallucination is nothing like the first. Instead, it takes him back to the day his father died. He walks into their shack and finds him on the floor, lifeless and cold. It’s the worst day of his life. Following this are visions of other terrible happenings in his life: the Kerberos mission failure, his expulsion, Lance in a pod, Shiro missing from Black. By the end of it, he’s on the verge of tears.

But slowly, he fades back into consciousness, just in time as Red saves him.


	4. Caught in an Explosion - Keith

In hindsight, Keith really should have known.

The assignment Kolivan gave him that day wasn’t exactly simple, but it was nothing high-risk either. Along with two additional operatives who were much more experienced than he, Keith had to infiltrate a supply base and install intelligence retention code that was on the precipice of a fail-safe design. The only major obstacle was time; they had exactly four doboshes to complete the task before they were detected by the base’s security system.

The extraction point was crucial. They had to be in the escape pod by that time or they’d be stuck and captured.

They got into the base easily, hitting no snags in their plan. Suspicion should’ve crept its way into Keith’s judgement, but he refused to become doubtful. He focused on what he had to get done and did so with ease. The code was implemented easily, and by the time they all finished their respective tasks, they actually had a dobosh to spare. They made their way out of the control center and walked straight into a pack of sentries. 

Keith cursed to himself, involuntarily activating his blade as he took down multiple sentries with ease. But that was when things went wrong. 

According to the scans they’d done on the base, this was the first wave of defense in the instance of an intruder. They were not supposed to respond for another few ticks! But Keith and the others had no time to dwell on the misinformation as they fought for their lives. 

These sentries, however, weren’t the main concern. When the operatives had finished them all off, an eerie quiet settled among the agents, before they sprinted together in the direction of the escape pod. God, they were so screwed. 

And that was when the first explosion sounded. 

They all knew it was coming. This was the way the base dealt with inside attacks: it self destructed, piece by piece. They barely had a few ticks to make it to the pod before the whole place blew up. 

But as they made their escape, Keith tripped over a fallen sentry. He’d been so distracted by the impending destruction that he hadn’t paid attention to his feet. He screamed, one last desperate attempt for help, but the other agents were gone from his sight. 

That was when Keith was blasted out into space by the base’s explosions.   
__

He must have gone unconscious for quite some time, because when he attempts to open his eyes a sliver, he can’t make out anything but debris. 

His head is pounding, his ears ringing, and his vision blurry. He’s so delirious with pain that it takes him a full few doboshes to realize that he’s bleeding heavily from both a gash on his forehead and a piece of bent scrap metal protruding from his gut. Remembering his emergency medical training from the Garrison, he refrains from removing the metal. It would most likely cause him to bleed even more. 

He realizes his suit is also severely damaged as he tries to activate his jet packs, failing to produce a response. Frustration, both at his situation and inability to move, builds in his gut and colors his cheeks. He’s just about ready to cry, to scream, to beg for help, but there’s no one around to do anythings.

When he accepts his fate, that he’s going to die here, alone, among the remains of a Galran station, he fades out of consciousness once again.  
__ 

He wakes up with Kolivan’s face looming above him. 

“You’re alive,” the Marmora leader observes. If Keith hadn’t known him, he wouldn’t recognize the relief on his practically expressionless face, but it’s there. Feeling pathetic, Keith makes a move to sit up from the cold cot he’s laid on, but lets out a yelp of pain at the searing in his gut. Kolivan almost looks amused. “Don’t move for a few hours. We don’t have a pod ready for you yet here, but -”

“I want to go back to the castle.”

The admittance causes confusion to plague Kolivan’s features, who goes to question the boy who seemingly made up his mind without a split second of deliberation. “What?”

“I’m ready to go home.”


	5. Forcibly Stripped - Klance

Trauma, he realizes, is a strange thing. Something he would never want to be defined alongside of. Something he does his best to repress. Something he wishes more than anything to escape from. Something he thought he could bury.

He was wrong, as it turned out. Very, very wrong.

“How dare you?” The angry woman snarls at him, shoving him into a wall. “You think you can keep stealing and get away with it?” She demands, but Keith just lowers his gaze to his feet while he tries to ignore the incessant throbbing in his bruised shoulder. She has no tolerance for his lack of eye contact, grabbing his hair in a fistful and yanking his head up. “Look at me, you worthless piece of shit!”

He can’t help how he tears up, but she doesn’t seem to be affected by how pathetic he looks. She gets up close to his face, squeezes his jaw between her gnarled old hands, and drops her voice a startlingly calm. “You know the punishment for stealing, Keith, don’t you?”

He sobs as she removes his shirt and shorts, leaving him in nothing but his ratty briefs. The second she leads him out to the main room of the group home, the other kids point at laugh at him. He’s still crying as she addresses the other children. “This,” she points to him, “is why we don’t steal. Keith now knows what it feels like to be robbed. Let this, the theft of his dignity, be a lesson for all of you.”

He’s forced to remain there until dinner time, then he is sent to be without food. It’s the most humiliating 6 hours of his life.

Trauma, Keith finds, often comes back to haunt him.

When he and Lance get captured during a mission, he isn’t too worried. The base is low security, so as long as the rest of the team comes back for them before they get transferred, they’ll be saved easily. It isn’t bad. He knows he can protect Lance if he needs to, and vice versa. They’re a good team, if he must admit. He isn’t worried. It’s fine.

Until it isn’t.

Until the doors to the prison cell open and a sentry is taking him from Lance. Until he’s thrashing in its grip as he’s dragged away. Until he sees a guard shock Lance into submission. Until he, too, is being shocked.

And then, nothing.

He wakes up on what resembles a cot in a room full of strange technology. There’s a large Galra leaning over him, fiddling with his armor.

Then he realizes they’re taking off his armor.

And his entire body goes rigid with fear. This isn’t happening, it can’t be happening, he can’t, he can’t, he isn’t a child anymore, he can’t. It’s been a decade, and he should be able to defend himself from this.

But he’s helplessly tied to the bed, absolutely powerless. He looks around frantically for something familiar to calm himself and finds Lance on the other side of soundproof glass, pounding his fists and shouting furiously. Two guards stand at his side, holding him back.

When they make eye contact, they both stop moving, frozen in time. Lance’s expression softens from one of anger to pure concern. Keith’s eyes well with tears, and even though Lance can’t hear him, he mouths a single, desperate plea. Help.

The Galran official, seemingly unconcerned by their commutation, continues to undress Keith to just the black fitted suit under the armor. And then his hands wander as he searches for a zipper to remove the suit. He doesn’t care that Lance is watching, doesn’t care how pathetic he looks. The only thing left for Keith to do is scream.

And then, he hears glass shattering. When he frantically turns his head to the noise, Lance is standing in its wake, panting and bloodied, but nothing short of breathtaking. Keith smiles at him, small and sincere, as Lance shoots down the Galra that’d been on him. He’s at Keith side a second later to break the restraints, helping him up into a sitting position as he checks for injury.

For the second time that night, they make eye contact. But this time, Keith doesn’t fear for his life or Lance’s. This time, he knows he’s safe, with Lance’s hands on his shoulders, grounding and secure. 

Keith wants to kiss him. 

Lance beats him to it.


	6. Coughing Blood - Klance

Lance really didn’t know how the mission went so wrong. One moment he was covering Keith’s back as he took down sentries, the next moment they were chained up, back to back, in a prison cell. The worst part was that they couldn’t see each other.

He knew that both he and Keith had one of Haggar’s cronies assigned to torture information out of them, but he couldn’t see exactly what they were doing to Keith. The only indication he had was the feeling of Keith’s back tensing up each time he yelped. It made Lance sick.

Lance’s druid was choking him. He wasn’t quite sure how it was happening, since he wasn’t physically choking him, but either way, Lance’s throat was constricting as if there was a large hand wrapped around it. He couldn’t even scream. All he could do was listen to Keith.

And that was when it all made sense to Lance. This was psychological torture. They were trying to make both paladins cave by the suffering of the other. They were forcing Lance to listen to Keith sob in pain and feel his convulsions, while the silence from Lance drove Keith mad, wondering if his teammate was dead. All while not being able to see the other. Lance almost appreciated how genius it was.

When druid released him, he slumped where he was sat, pulling on the chains that tied him to Keith. He didn’t have the energy to hold himself up, and his throat hurt every time he breathed. The room started to become blurry; all sound was reduced to a ringing in his ear.

But just as he was about to pass out, he heard Keith screaming his name in desperation.

“Lance! Get up! Lance, answer me!” Keith was literally screeching, desperately trying to shake his chains enough to jostle Lance. But Lance just couldn’t respond. His throat hurt so bad that he couldn’t possibly speak - he could barely breathe. All he could do was listen to Keith howl in anguish between shouts of his name. “Lance, please, say something,” he begged. But when Keith still got no answer, his voice changed, from desperate to dark, from hurt to angry, as he addresses his druid. “I don’t care what you do to me. You took him from me. I will never tell you anything, and I will happily rot in this cell with you bastards for the rest of -”

He’s cut off by a sickening squelch, and then Keith lets out the most bloodcurdling shriek he’s ever heard.

“Tell me! Where are you hiding Voltron?!” The druid demands, and then Lance hears the telltale sound of the knife in Keith’s gut being twisted.

“Never!” Keith gasps through sobs of pain. And then Lance feels his chains being tugged on, unlocked. The tension of being connected to Keith is gone, so Lance slumps forward onto himself, barely able to move enough. Still, he manages to lift his head enough to look at his teammate. Keith meets his eyes, immediate relief filling his gaze. “You’re alive!”

Lance tries to answer, he really does, but all that comes out is a pained gasp. The druids don’t seem amused, which leads one to twist the knife in Keith’s stomach again. Terrible wails of agony fill the room, but Keith still refuses to answer questions. The druid sighs. “This one has no regard for his own well-being. We must torture the blue one to get answers from red.”

The sentence makes both paladins scream - or, in Lance’s case, attempt to. Keith is crying still, bleeding so much from where he’s been impaled with a piece of scrap metal. And then, he begins coughing between intermittent sobs.

He’s coughing up blood.

Lance watches powerlessly as Keith’s chin becomes covered in red. Seeing Keith in so much pain is probably the worst feeling he’s ever had. There’s nothing he can do as Keith wipes at his lips, smearing red across his cheek. His face is red. Everything is red, red, red.

True to his word, the druid electrocutes Lance. Searing shock wracks his frame, leaving him convulsing and screaming after mere seconds of the affliction.

Keith caves after the second time. He tells them everything: Voltron’s whereabouts, the castle’s defense codes, the team’s next plan. Despite Lance’s assurances that he’s fine, he’s okay, Keith saves him. Saves him from more pain. Saves him from being the one to blame for selling out the team.

“He is of no use to us now,” one druid informs the other. “Leave him to die, and take the blue one to a separate holding cell. Voltron is attacking, and they will come for them.”

Lance screams until his throat goes raw and he can’t scream anymore. It doesn’t make Keith look any less lifeless. It doesn’t stop them from dragging him down countless halls until they deposit him in a smaller cell.

Every time he closes his eyes, he tries to see Keith smiling at him, healthy and safe.

All he sees is his lifeless body, slumped on the ground, metal protruding from his gut, armor cracked, tainted dark red, blood smeared on his cheeks and dribbling from his mouth. Dead.


	7. Isolation - Keith

When Keith is kicked out of the Garrison, he really doesn’t know what to do with himself.

Iverson, smug as ever, escorts him out of the main building, leading him to a car. He instructs Keith to tell the driver where to bring him, but Keith has absolutely no answer. No matter the circumstances, he will not go back to the home he’d been at beforehand, so he just directs the driver to where he and his dad had stayed in the middle of the desert.

When they arrive at the beaten-up shack, the driver turns to him, pitying look on her face. “This is where you want to be?” She’s a kind looking woman, a face worn with age. She regards him with caution, like one would treat a rabid animal, yet also with empathy. It’s a strange combination, but he can’t blame her. After all, she (and everyone on campus) had seen what he’d done to Iverson, heard the rumors of a vicious boy with insurmountable talent. And on top of that, now she knew his living situation. “Are you sure this is the place?”

“Yes.” He can’t meet her eyes. Instead, he swallows hard, gathers the few things he has, and opens the door. “I have no where else to go,” he mumbles, slams the door, and walks as far away as he can without turning back.  
__

On the second day on his own, Keith realizes he needs to buy some food or he will starve.

He spends hours trying to fix an old motorbike his father had used, and eventually the engine starts. Having only inadequate training with engine maintenance before, Keith is pretty damn proud of himself. The engine roars to life beneath his fingers, just as it once had for his father. However, the tank barely has enough gas to make it 10 or so miles, so Keith realizes he’s going to have to pick a direction and stick to it.

As he sets of in the path of the setting sun, he realizes something else. Riding the bike gives him the same exhilaration as flying did. The vast expanse of desert is breathtaking, the wind in his hair is therapeutic, and the rumble of the engine is cathartic.

He smiles for the first time since the Kerberos launch. He drives. And drives. And drives.

Eventually, a sense of dread fills him when he’s driven eight miles and finds nothing. There’s nothing out here. Nothing but him and this bike, this stupid bike with no gas. Hopelessness churns in his stomach as tears fill his eyes. There’s absolutely nothing in sight.

He’s so, so alone.

Keith really can’t help but sob pathetically when his engine dies out, leaving him utterly stranded. God, he’s so fucked. He hates this so much.

He’s lost without Shiro, he really is. He’s always been Keith’s guiding light through a lifetime of darkness. Keith needs him like he needs air, needs his guidance, needs his support. It isn’t fair that the universe took Shiro away from him; he’s all Keith’s ever had. And now he’s gone, assumed dead, lost.

And Iverson, fucking Iverson, knew he had nothing, knew he was gonna be miserable, but antagonized him anyway. Keith hates him more than he’s ever hated anyone; he deserved what Keith did to him.

He tries one last time to get his engine running, but to no avail. This is it, he thinks. He’s going to die out here.  
__

He walks for hours before he sees a light in the distance. The sun had long since set on the brittle desert, leaving Keith to bask in the dropping temperatures. Relief floods his senses when he gets close enough to identify the light as a convenient store. He doesn’t have any money, but he hopes he can get sympathy from whoever is working while promising to come back when he can pay.

The cashier is an old grumpy man, who does not find his situation compelling. He ends up stealing gas and a few cans of corn before sprinting away.

It isn’t even close to his first time stealing. He’s had plenty of experience with theft when he was staying at the group home. Since they often didn’t have enough food to feed everyone, Keith would sneak out in the night to steal from small shops. He was by no means proud of what he’d done, but he probably would’ve starved to death without it.

Back then, it’d been him against the world. 

Nothing has changed, it seemed.


	8. Whipping - Keith

“Next, prisoner 1129, charged with espionage for Team Voltron. 30 lash minimum.”

The crowd let out a sickening cheer as the announcer gave out Keith’s punishment. His stomach churned with fear while he sat in the middle of the area, trembling, shirtless, restrained. As a Galran offical approached him, brandishing the whip in mockery, Keith bore his teeth and snarled, but the attempt to scare him off was unsuccessful. The Galra walked forward until he was stood above Keith with a condescending stare.

The crowd cheered around them, sat above the cold arena to spectate. They’re chanting something Keith can’t quite decipher through the thrumming in his ear drums. The announcer’s voice blares through the speakers once again before keith can even process it. “Begin!”

And when the hits him, searing agony spreads throughout him. He screams, unable to restrain himself, and falls upon his knees. He doesn’t think he’s ever experienced so much pain at once. The whip crashes down again, relentless, and Keith is practically wailing with pain. He tries to curl into himself, to protect himself somehow, but it’s to no avail.

He can feel blood seeping from the wounds and running down his back. He can’t see anything in front of him, can’t hear the crowd can’t feel anything but the pain. He’s certain he’s going to die from it.

Eventually, his whole body goes numb and he can no longer feel each lash as it’s made. His face is dripping with both sweat and tears when he throws up, unable to stop himself. His brain begins to feel less foggy and he focuses on the crowd to distract himself. It’s then that he finally understand what they’re chanting.

“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!” He passes out almost immediately, but not before he sees the ceiling break inward, a mechanical foot in its wake.  
__

“Keith, buddy, you’re awake!”

He’s freezing cold and in someone’s arms. When he looks up, he’s met with Hunk’s comforting smile. He surveys the rest of the room, finding the whole team there waiting for him. He stands on his own, shivering but grinning widely at the people he loves. “Where’s my jacket?”

“In your room,” Shiro answers, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Good to see you up. Coran thought you’d only be out a few days.”

“How long was I out?”

“Two weeks,” Lance answers, rolling his eyes jokingly. He laughs, but the concern is sincere. “Took you long enough! Way to be fashionably late.”

They all laugh, and they all hug, and Keith feels warm and safe again.

Later, when he examines the permanent scars on his back, he doesn’t hate them. They’re a reminder of who saved him.


	9. Panic Attacks - Keith

It’s a strange feeling, not being able to breathe, but it’s something Keith has become accustomed to.

Years in crowded group homes have truly taken a toll on his sanity. Terror has carved an irreparable hole in his stability, torn away at the floor under him, and incessantly stole his resolve. He no longer feels secure in his own skin, instead spending his days in the shadow of threat, desperately clinging to remnants of fortitude.

Still, knowing the feeling doesn’t make it any less jarring.

He’s done a good job of not making a scene in front of his new team. In fact, he’s actually been panicking less on the castle ship. He thinks it’s because the only person he cares about is aboard the ship with him.

And then once he gets to know the rest of the team, he loves them as much as he loves Shiro. They mean the world to him. They’re his little family. And they’re all safe with him. It’s comforting.

But when he walks into the hull of the black lion and Shiro isn’t there, Keith absolutely loses it.

He feels the tell-tale tightening of his chest, the loss of the ability to breath, the wide-eyed terror, and screams at the other paladins to leave him alone. “Get out! Get out, get out, get out!”

They just stare at him for a minute, bewildered looks on their faces as Keith goes into hysteria. And then Hunk seems get the picture, gently ushering the rest of the group out of the area. He then turns to Keith, who has begun pulling at his hair, digging his nails into anything he can find.

Hunk approaches him with raised hands, proving that he means no harm, and pries Keith’s hands away from his skin, hushing him carefully. “Hey, hey, it’s going to be alright. Listen to me, we’re gonna find him,” he soothes. Keith’s expression is one of pure distress.

And Hunk knows this feeling just as much as Keith does. He understands the rapid breathing and the vicious fear, so he gives Keith space but opens his arms for a hug.

And Keith looks confused for a second before he recognizes the gesture, falling easily into it. Hunk wraps him up tight and lets him cry until he can’t anymore.

“I can’t do this, I don’t wanna lose him again, I can’t do it, I just can’t.” The desperation is clear in his voice to Hunk, who doesn’t quite know what to do. He’s never seen Keith this upset, but in all fairness, no one has.

They’ve always known Keith without any vulnerability, without any weakness, and seeing him like this just hurts. No one should have to go through what Keith has endured, and no one should have to repress it the way he does. Hunk has never met anyone as guarded as Keith, but here he is, holding him while he falls apart.

“I know, Keith, I know,” he comforts, rubbing his back. “But it’s going to be alright. We’re gonna bring him back, and everything will be alright, okay?” And at that, Keith sighs, and Hunk thinks he’s done a pretty good job. He knows it’s a sign that Keith has regained the ability to breathe and also stopped crying.

“You’re right,” Keith admits, breaking away from the embrace to look at Hunk, then drops his gaze to the floor as if embarrassed. “He’s just so important to me.”

“I know, but it’s going to be alright. We’re his family now too, and we’re going to find him.” Watery eyes meet Hunk’s, and he’s caught off guard by the trust in Keith’s gaze, but it only solidifies his promise. “You aren’t alone anymore.”


	10. Hair Matted With Blood - Klance

“Keith? Come in, buddy.” When his voice, desperate and pleading, yields no response from said paladin, Lance begins to panic.

They’d been sent out on a mission together to a distant planet. The simple task of intel-gathering turned out to be much more complicated when they got separated, which defeated Shiro’s original intention - force them to work together to build trust. As much as Lance hated to admit it, their bickering often got in the way of the simplest tasks. He thinks Shiro fails to realize, though, that they come together when it’s important. But almost as soon as Keith landed their pod, they realized they were in trouble.

They were being shot at by the planet’s inhabitants from their cave-like homes, and the pod they took wasn’t equipped for proper defense. Allura had told them the Plassians were both peaceful and aware of their arrival, so why were they attacking?

They had decided to pursue on foot, and that was when he lost Keith. One minute he was there, the next he was gone, like he’d never even been there.

Flash forward a varga of fighting off angry Plassians, Lance had managed to escape in the pod and was trying to contact Keith, to no avail. He assumes that they’d destroyed the helmet so he couldn’t communicate or be tracked, avoiding the possibility that he received no answer because Keith physically couldn’t.

Frantic planning and impulsivity encourage him to land the pod again on the plant, this time cloaked with Pidge’s technology. He lands close enough to where he saw the aliens retreat when he escaped, but far enough so they won’t see him.

He finds Keith almost immediately when he enters the main cave area.

From the looks of it, he appears fine. There is nothing but a few scrapes and forming bruises on what isn’t covered by their armor, and he doesn’t seem to be bleeding anywhere. The area is deserted. There is no one hurting him or guarding him, and he isn’t even chained up; Lance would almost assume Keith was fine. If he was moving.

He rushed to Keith’s side, screaming his name hysterically. And under closer inspection, thankfully, Keith seems to be breathing. Lance is as gentle as possible when he pulls Keith into his lap to see why he’s unconscious. His facial features are slack - eyes faintly closed, mouth hanging open, eyebrows no longer taut with concentration. A few despairing tears fall onto Keith’s face as Lance begs him to move. “Come on, buddy, wake up, please.”

And then as if obeying command, Keith’s expression tenses and his eyes open just barely. Lance’s name is on his tongue, broken and empty.

“Thank god, oh thank god,” he sighs, but the relief is short lived as Keith’s eyes shut once again. “No! Wake up, idiot! You can’t leave me like this! What’s wrong with you?!”

Lance really doesn’t know why he’s so angry, why he’s screaming at this boy who’s practically on his death bed, but he can’t help it. Why can’t he figure out why Keith is so injured? He seems fine, there’s nothing wrong!

And that’s when he feels it.

He was just about to cradle Keith’s head, to run his fingers through his soft hair, when he encounters something sticky. And when he pulls his hand away from the back of Keith’s head, he sees it. Blood. So much of it.

And then he notices it everywhere. On the spot Keith had been laying on the ground. On his thigh where his head had rested. And, worst of all, covering his hands. Red and thick and warm and sickening. There was nothing he could do to stop the steady flow from the gaping wound. Especially because he couldn’t find the origin of the liquid, thanks to Keith’s stupid fucking hair.

“Lance, m’okay.” He doesn’t even notice he’s sobbing until Keith comes to again, this time with a sound even weaker. “S’okay, go on.” His tone, despite the obvious waver to his voice, is adamant. Unlucky for him though, so is Lance. He is absolutely not leaving Keith here, no matter how much to boy tells him.

He doesn’t even respond to Keith’s frail attempts to shoo him away, just cries into his chest, stained red. Even in his best efforts, he can’t avoid thinking about what led up to Keith’s injury. Did they do this because he resisted? Or just for fun? Was it a form of torture? Was he bait for Lance? How did they know he’d come back for Keith?

But it doesn’t matter. None of it matters as Keith reaches for his hand, shaky and weak and barely a movement, but Lance notices and gently takes Keith’s hand in his. Their fingers twine together and, Lance thinks, their hearts do as well. Then Keith tries to speak again, clearly struggling with his words. “Th-thought you hate, ah, hate m-me.”

“I never hated you,” Lance weeps, holding him tighter, “I never hated you, idiot. I love you, I love you.” Without thinking about it, he leans down to press three kisses onto Keith’s forehead, just like his mother had done when he was a child. “But if you leave me, I will hate you, so you better not fucking die, tonto, I love you.”

It almost looks like Keith smiles, sincere and soft.

And then, right there in his arms, Keith draws his last breath.


	11. Slammed Into Wall - Klance

Lance knows there’s something wrong with Shiro. The leader, once patient and kind, is now snappy and condescending toward all members of the team. Lance is sick and tired of watching it happen, fed up with the way he’s being treated, of missing the real Shiro. Even if everyone else is going to ignore it, Lance has decided he can’t anymore.

So he takes it upon himself to check on Shiro, deciding to be gentle at first. When he finds him, he’s in the training room, hacking away at a bot with surprising anger. The opening of the door or the sound of footsteps doesn’t even break his concentration, so Lance calls out to him, “Shiro, can we talk for a second?”

“Not now, Lance!” Shiro barks in reply, then slashes at the bot once again. It staggers and then dies, but Shiro doesn’t relent. He just keeps attacking it, even after it’s become lifeless and broken on the ground, and that’s when Lance knows for sure there’s something wrong.

“Shiro? I just -”

Lance is interrupted as Shiro charges at him, full force, and slams him into the wall. “I said not now,” Shiro practically growls, scarily slow and even. His hands are gripping Lance’s forearms with insurmountable strength, pinning Lance to the wall helplessly. And then, as if it was never there, the wild look in his eyes disappears.

Shiro looks horrified at himself.

“Lance, I’m so sorry, I don’t - I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately,” he sighs, releasing Lance from his hold. He shakes his head in humiliation and is gone from Lance’s sight in a matter of seconds.

It’s not until later that night that Lance finds the bruises on his arms, the exact shape of Shiro’s hands.

__  
When Keith comes back to visit Team Voltron at the Castle, he notices just as quickly as Lance had.

He finds Shiro in his room and enters without knocking, eased by years of familiarity and trust. He makes his presence known, though, with heavy footsteps to catch Shiro’s attention until eventually he looks up at Keith. Immediately, they’re hugging. “Keith! You’re back!”

But the hug lasts a bit too long, and Keith is gasping for air in Shiro’s grip.

“Perfect timing,” he says, slow and menacing in Keith’s ear, as his Galran prosthetic activates and swings toward his neck. But Keith is quick to process the movement and slip away without harm. His Marmoran blade activates in his right hand, poised and ready. But Keith would never dare attack Shiro, the only person to give him a second chance. He’s ready to just play defense, never once advancing on Shiro.

Shiro, though, is much too quick and much too powerful for Keith. Usually, they’re an evenly match sparring pair. But today, now, something strange glints in Shiro’s normally soft gaze, something menacing, something evil.

Keith takes two successive blows, one to the face by Shiro’s normal hand, and one to his stomach by the glowing hand. The latter slices Keith’s Blade suit away, leaving bleeding flesh in its wake. “Shiro, please, wake up!” Limping in retreat, Keith pleads. “What’s wrong with you? It’s me, it’s Keith!” But it’s seemingly too late, because Keith is backed into a corner with Shiro looming over him.

Harsh palms shove him into the wall, and the collision leaves Keith gasping. He’s bleeding so much from the laceration in his abdomen now, so much that he’s feeling dizzy from it. His head aches from it all, and he’s nauseous with fear.

Until, that is, he sees a flash of blue, and Shiro topples off of him, tackled by none other than -

“Lance!”

“Keith! Run”

But of course, he doesn’t listen. Shakily standing Keith sees where Shiro has cornered Lance in the hallway. Other than a bloody nose, he looks fine, which allows Keith a sigh of relief.

The relief doesn’t last long though, because then Shiro is lifting his glowing prosthetic to Lance’s throat and grinning like the devil himself. “Any last words?”

Keith makes a decision.

“Not if I can help it.”

His blade in Shiro’s side. Keith’s hands, covered in blood from both himself and Shiro, leave the sword, which is stuck in Shiro where Keith knows isn’t life threatening.

As much as he cares about Lance, he could never kill Shiro. He loves Shiro.

The wound, though not malignant, does stun Shiro, who falls into Keith’s arms with a thud. Only then does Lance open his eyes, carefully looking up at Keith as fear drains from his gaze. “Is he…?”

“No.” The answer from Keith is hard and unwavering. “Help me get him to a pod. Then we need to figure out what’s wrong with him, and how to fix it.”

“Okay,” Lance replies, slow and still spooked, as if Shiro will wake up any second and kill them both on the spot. Still, he takes and arm and starts walking with Keith.

“And Lance?” Keith speaks up but continues looking down, watching their feet move and Shiro’sdrag between them. If they hadn’t almost just died, Lance would Keith was blushing.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for saving me.”


	12. Take Me Instead - Klance

In all honesty, it’s the easiest decision Keith’s ever made.

Despite his insurmountable fear of death, despite his anxiety of fate, despite his desperation to live, to survive, to overcome, it’s a decision he makes in a heartbeat. With Lance frantically searching the horrified faces of his teammates, he barely even thinks before offering himself in place of his fellow paladin. He’d do it for any of them, a thousand times over, no matter what happened to him. The belief that they deserve to live, over him, is what drives Keith to step forward and stand tall as he prepares to die.

“Take me instead!”

The large Galra restraining Lance gives an inquisitive look toward his commander, who shrugs with nonchalance obvious in his expression. The soldier releases Lance, who scrambles desperately into Hunk’s arms, then looks incredulously at his team. Their attention, however, is on the guard seizing Keith, immediately restraining him with cuffs so painfully tight that the paladin cries out. The whole team is enveloped by a stunned silence. The commander speaks, this time a barking threat. “The rest of you shall see yourselves out, or we will take all of you!”

“We aren’t leaving without him,” Shiro responds, equally as threatening yet half as certain. But the galra’s eyes harden and, with a snap of his fingers, multiple sentries are forcing the paladins out from the headquarters. Their eyes flash with fear and, then, with resignation. They leave, recognizing the consequences of fighting it.

And Keith, who has spent a lifetime battling abandonment, has never felt so alone.

__

“Keith’s strong, he can handle himself,” Lance speaks as soon as they’re on their way back to the castle in a rescue pod, mostly talking to himself until he turns to Shiro, looking for affirmation. “Right?”

The grimace on his face informs Lance that he, too, has realized the severity of what the just did.

“Of course he can,” Shiro assures, regardless of his lack of conviction. He knows Keith is tough, that he’s spent his life defending himself, but no amount of training matters when fighting an army with no help. “Keith will be fine until we can rescue him.”

“How are we going to do that?”

No one responds.

Shiro is the first to break down. He quiet but uncontrolled as he cries into his hands, plagued with guilt. Keith was his responsibility, how could he not offer his place? They all just left without a second thought. They left him, even after Keith has been left so many times. Silent tears fall as he thinks about Keith, curled up and all alone, just like how Shiro found him all those years ago.

Lance, by contrast, is wailing. “He took my place! How could we just leave him there with no plan?” His eyes meet Shiro’s, wide with the shared anguish. “What kind of team are we? We just let him sacrifice himself, again, quiznak, again.”

Hunk shakes his head, shedding large tears as he pulls Lance in close, Pidge in two. They all let out a collective gasp when Shiro, their strong leader, assumes his way into the embrace.

And then, with tears still moistening her eyes, Pidge looks at all of them in earnest. “I have a plan.”

__

It takes about 10 days to organize, but they manage to breach the ship undetected. Deciding to rely on stealth, they send only Lance and Pidge in to find Keith. Hunk directed them through the comms, and Shiro stays back to defend.

When they find Keith, he’s curled up in the corner of a cell, shaking.

“Thank quiznak,” Lance exclaims, charging at Keith in excitement. He notices something is wrong almost immediately, as the paladin doesn’t react, just continues to stare with glazed eyes. “Keith?”

He doesn’t respond, doesn’t perk in recognition, doesn’t even blink.

“Do you think he’s hurt,” Pidge questions, looking concerned when Lance shrugs helplessly. Neither of them know what to do, but they hear Shiro on the comms, urging them to hurry before they’re found. 

“Okay, buddy, I’m gonna pick you up,” Lance informs gently, careful not to scare Keith. But he doesn’t even seem to register what Lance is saying. Not until he’s in Lance’s arms, and he begins to cry softy. Lance’s heart breaks. “I’m sorry we took so long, but you’re safe now. You’re safe now, Keith.”

“You came back for me, oh god, thank you for coming back for me.”

__

Days later, when he stumbles out of the healing pod, his team catches him.

Keith knows, just as he did before, that he’d do it all again in a heartbeat.

Because he knows that, no matter what, they’ll always come back for him.


	13. Parting Words Regret - Klance

The team is finishing up their last supply run when they get a call from the Blades.

Pidge carefully connects to their frequency, broadcasting Kolivan’s signature scowl through a hologram in each lion so they can all see. Allura begins her diplomatic greeting, but Kolivan seems to want no part of it. “Save the formalities. On a high-risk mission, your former paladin was captured.”

“Keith? Is he okay now!?” Shiro demands, anger showing through his formal guise. If it affects Kolivan, he doesn’t let it show, not even flinching as Shiro continues to yell. “Tell us everything, now!”

“I do not know much. He was captured about five quintants algo -“

“Five quintants!? You’re just telling us now?!” Hunk interrupts, showing a brief wave of anger before fear takes over once again, leaving him shaking. “Is he…? Do you think he’s okay?”

“We had reason to believe he’d be returned. We didn’t want to preoccupy you all,” Kolivan replies, remaining completely stoic. On the other hand, Shiro looks like he’s about tear his hair out, piece by piece. Lance can tell even through the monitor screen that Shiro is seriously restraining himself.

“What exactly happened? Was he the only one captured?” Lance barely even registers he’s the one questioning Kolivan. “You need to tell us everything, immediately.”

“He is the only one the Galra have taken,” Kolivan sighs with a heavy expression, and Lance believes he is genuinely worried. Everyone knows how much weighs down on Kolivan, and it must take its toll on the man. “But he is a tough one.”

He sighs again and explains what had all gone wrong.

While Allura and Pidge work with Kolivan, Shiro stress-trains, Hunk stress-bakes, and Coran stress-cleans.

And Lance? He wallows.

He can’t believe that Keith is in some cell, alone and terrified, thinking no one is coming to save him. Kolivan waited five quinants to tell them! For five quintants, the Galra could’ve been torturing Keith. Still, Lance refused to entertain the though that Keith was already dead.

Keith was absolutely fearless, a pure unstoppable force no matter what he faced. Lance firmly believes he would laugh in the face of death, if given the opportunity. No one could take Keith down, certainly not without a good fight. There was no way Keith wouldn’t battle for his life till the very end.

Regardless of these assurances, Lance couldn’t help but worry.

What would Keith think about on the brink of death? Lance knew he didn’t have anything on Earth he cared about, so that wasn’t an option. Shiro is his best guess.

But what if he thought about the other paladins as well?

Lance thinks back to the last time he saw Keith, before he left for the Blade. They’d pulled him into a group hug, assured Keith he’d be missed, said their goodbyes. And Lance? He’d done nothing of the sort.

Who am I gonna make fun of?

The words seemed to echo in his brain. Why hadn’t Lance just said something kind, something that showed Keith he cared. As much as he played up their “rivalry”, Lance didn’t hate Keith, not at all. He saw them as friends, as equals, especially when Lance had been Keith’s right hand in battle.

Just the thought of the words sickened him now. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if those were his last words to Keith, someone he valued in his life. It was unfair - cruel, even - of the universe to do this, to take Keith away without a proper goodbye.

In retrospect, if he could do it all over, he’d follow Keith down that hallway, hug him individually, and make sure Keith knew he always had a place in Voltron. He pretty much owed it to Keith, after he’d reassured Lance when he questioned himself as a seventh wheel.

Though Keith hadn’t been great with words, Lance walked away feeling much better.

But Lance hadn’t done the same for him. Keith had walked away thinking that all Lance lost was a verbal punching bag, not someone he truly cared for.

It takes an extreme amount of manpower to rescue Keith, who ended up being in a main ship, extremely fortified. Only Allura, Shiro, and Lance go in, while Pidge hacks into the security system and Hunk guards their entry point. Allura leads them through to a small hallway with a cell at the end.

Lance wonders why it’s not guarded. Until, that is, he sees Keith.

He can barely raise an eyebrow when he sees the paladins. He’s so bruised and bloodied that he’s barely recognizable, save for the mullet. It’s then that Lance decides, that despite all his complaining, he really doesn’t hate Keith’s hair all that much.

Shiro all but collapses next to him, gently gathering the boy into his arms, who remains barely responsive.

Now, Lance understands why they left his cell unguarded. Keith is practically dead. Useless to them. Expendable.

Lance hopes Keith never felt that way.

“Am I dead? Did I survive?”

The first questions out of Keith’s mouth as he stumbles out of the cryopod make Lance chuckle, though his eyes fill with tears. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt so much relief in his life as he loops an arm around Keith to hold him up.

To his surprise, Keith falls into a hug.

“I’m alive?” He questions again, just to be sure. When Lance nods in response, he knows Keith feels it, because he squeezes him harder for a second, like Lance is tethering him to this reality. “Where’s Shiro?”

“He went to use the bathroom literally like 30 ticks ago. He’s gonna be so mad he wasn’t here,” Lance laughs, then remembers what he wanted to tell Keith. “You know,” he begins uncertainly, “when you left, I didn’t mean what I said.”

“Then what did you mean?” He mumbles into Lance’s shoulder, and Lance barely catches it. Lance thinks about how Keith might’ve pondered his words as he fought for his life, and immediately a pit forms in his stomach, chalk full of regret.

“I don’t really know,” he admits, sighing. “I guess I just didn’t know what I’d do when you were gone. I didn’t understand why you were leaving when we just were getting closer, and - I don’t know. The point is that I’m sorry. I really missed you, buddy.”

Then, Keith turns his head, which had been facing outward, into Lance’s neck and sighs. “I’m sorry, too.”

And it’d probably look strange to anyone else, the way they’ve been standing, latched together and unmoving. Keith is still trembling, so Lance isn’t letting go, even if that isn’t the only reason. He doesn’t know what Keith is apologizing for, but he accepts it either way. His hand moves up from where it’d been on Keith’s waist to his hair.

“I’m alive,” he breathes into Lance’s neck. And then the door opens and, startled, they break apart. Shiro stands in the doorway, gaping.

“Keith’s awake?! I was gone for like three dobashes!”


	14. Kill Me - Klance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: Lance gets captured by an alien species looking for info about the team. He won’t tell them anything. They seem to have expected that and drag him off to a cell. They throw him in and leave him there, and he notices there’s another person in the cell. The other person is Keith, and he’s been there for months being interrogated after getting captured on a BOM mission. The aliens had thrown Lance in there as a warning to how messed up he’d be after if he didn’t give in. You take it from here ^^

Lance stares vacantly at the figure on the ground before him, paralyzed with shock and horror. 

It took him quite a while to realize that the figure was Keith, that it was even human for that matter. Surrounded by a pool of his own blood, Lance’s former rival was completely in shamble. The Marmora suit was barely a few sparse shreds of cloth draped over infected lacerations and fresh wounds. His arm was twisted unnaturally beneath him, as he lay on his side, face hidden by matted hair. Lifeless. 

And then he snapped out of the trance and crouched beside Keith, careful not to touch him, whispering his name with panicked desperation. “Keith, please, Keith,” he repeats, over and over, like an echoing mantra. Though Lance doesn’t want to hurt him, he needs to see Keith’s face and make sure he’s breathing. As gently as he possibly can, he nudges Keith until he rolls over onto his back, revealing his face. It’s worse than Lance expected. 

A large gash spans from Keith’s eyebrow to his jaw, sluggishly bleeding though obviously infected. His nose is crooked in two obvious places, blood clotting underneath. His face is covered in a layer of dirt, which makes the tear stains on his cheeks even more obvious. Imprints of hands are stark against the sickeningly pale skin, and bruises and cuts cover any remaining space. 

His left eye is swollen shut, but the right flutters open. 

“Keith, oh my god, you’re alive,” he rejoices quietly, still in a whisper to avoid scaring Keith, who just looks up at him blankly. It’s then that Lance realizes there is something seriously wrong. “Keith?” But the boy is completely unresponsive, and Lance begins to cry. 

“What did you do to him?!” He screams at the guards near his cell, but they don’t reply either, just stare at him with an evil glint in their eyes. He doesn’t even notice he’s crying until he sees new teardrops on Keith’s face, who finally seems to process what’s happening. His mouth opens and closes, like he’s trying to speak, but all that comes out is raspy gasping. Lance places a hand on his cheek, lightly and gauging his reaction. Keith’s eyes close softly, almost comforted by the touch, until he attempts to speak again. This time, the words are crystal clear. Lance just gapes at him. 

“Kill me.”

“What?! No! Why would I do that?” He questions frantically, but Keith just manages to shake his head weakly. His left hand clenches around nothing, so Lance decided to take it in his own, clutching as tightly as Keith can withstand. “Why would you ask that?!”

“I can’t, I can’t do this,” he whispers, struggling to form the words. Lance can tell he wants to say more but physically can’t manage. “Everything hurts,” he whimpers, eyes filling with tears.

Keith has always been one of the strongest people Lance knows, so seeing him in this state, desperate for death, is terrifying. He’s no longer just scared for his own fate, but scared of the horrible things they’ve done to Keith. He can’t believe that Voltron didn’t even know he was missing. Did anyone look for him? Did the blades even try?

He forces himself not to think about how Keith must’ve felt, alone and in pain, when no one came looking for him, about how Keith probably thought no one cared, about how Keith was abandoned. Again. 

“Lance,” he whispers, getting the boy’s attention. They’re both crying as Keith begs for death, begs for Lance to end it all for him. 

But Lance isn’t going to let that happen, not on his watch. 

He has a plan now.


	15. Passing Out from Pain - Hunk

Keith almost doesn’t notice. 

One second, he and Hunk are fighting an onslaught of drones back to back and the next, he feels Hunk leaning on him more heavily. Keith is about to elbow him as a warning when he has to sidestep a laser, and Hunk falls to the ground at his feet. 

The scream he lets out is one of unabashed terror as he falls to his knees next to his friend, shouting his name desperately. “Hunk! What happened?! Are you okay?!” He shakes his broad shoulder frantically and, just like that, he notices. 

There’s a large gash in his side, splitting straight through the blood-soaked armor. All he can process is red. 

But there isn’t much time for Keith to wait around panicking, because they’re still being shot at from every direction. He quickly searches for some safe area, some spot that he can bring Hunk to make sure he’s okay and call for help. In a far corner, he spots some fallen metal scaffolding that would be the perfect hiding spot - at least for the time being. 

The only problem would be getting Hunk there. 

Of course, Keith was not weak, under any circumstances. As he’d aged, he’d grown stronger, taller, leaner. But he was no match for the yellow paladin. Hunk’s body was solid weight and muscle, tall and strong and broad. He wasn’t sure how he could get Hunk there alone, especially when he was dead weight. 

Steeling himself with all the strength he can muster, he grabs under Hunk’s arms, trying to realign his collapsed form. He positions his grip methodically, careful not to cause any more injury, then begins to tug. 

Keith is wholly confident that sheer will and terror drive him. 

Under any other circumstance, he doesn’t think he could do it. But the desire to keep Hunk safe gets him there, fully in-tact, to the hiding spot. Grabbing at his helmet and turning on the comms, Keith begs for someone to come in, to answer, to help. Eventually, he catches Pidge’s attention, who freaks out when Keith mentions Hunk’s injury. Shiro is sent in immediately, and Keith barely even processes anything that happens afterward. 

All he can think about is how he failed to notice. 

He waits, waits, and waits at the med bay, hoping every second that he can wish Hunk conscious again. And finally, after days of waiting, Hunk wakes, gasping. “Keith!”

“Thank god, oh my god, you’re okay,” Keith rambles, watching Hunk cautiously. “Quiznak, I’m so sorry, I should’ve noticed you were hurt,” he stammers with a gentle blush on his cheeks, indicating shame. But all Hunk does is smile at him, grabbing his hand in reassurance. 

“Keith, it’s fine,” he soothes, and Keith visibly calms. “You were just doing your job. Thanks for protecting me, buddy.”

“No problem, Hunk.”


	16. Blood From Mouth - Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> platonic kidge and klance

Pidge can’t hear much after the explosion.

One moment, she’d been battling with some sentries, covering Lance’s back as he shot at the fighters surrounding Keith. The next thing she knew, there was a huge blast, depriving her of nearly every one of her senses. And the ability to breathe.

It’s startling for a moment when she realizes that the reason she can’t see or move or breathe is the dead weight on top of her. And then, remembering what had happened before the explosion, she finds herself downright terrified.

Keith.

She’d remembered, right before everything had went black, how fear had lit Keith’s eyes. How he’d shoved Lance aside with as much force as possible. How he’d then hurled himself at her, curling around her body. How he’d shielded her from the blast after protecting Lance.

But before she has time to do anything, her hearing begins to restore, just in time to decipher Lance screaming her name and Keith’s. Then, the weight from on top of her is lifted, and she gasps in huge breaths until she can respond to Lance.

“Pidge, you gotta help me!” Her head is still fuzzy and her vision black around the edges, but she understand the panic in Lance’s voice. What she fails to understand is why.

All confusion leaves her, though, when she takes one look at Keith.

He’s completely unconscious where he lays, head lolled to the side from when Lance had rolled him off of her. His face is blackened with soot and ashes, yet beneath it, his skin is deathly pale. If it weren’t for the weak movement of his chest, she’d think he was dead.

That’s when notices. Protruding from his cracked paladin armor, bloody and shredded, is a piece of scrap metal.

Suddenly, Keith surges forward, gasping and very much alive. A few wretched coughs escape him before he notices the metal impaling him. Tentative fingers poke and prod at the wound, careful but curious. And then the most ridiculous thing happens, clueing Pidge in that he’s definitely delirious.

Keith starts laughing.

Pidge stares in horror, feeling Lance do the same. But Keith just keeps laughing, loud and bellowing, until he begins to cough again. He’s careful not to move his abdomen much, though, even as his body shakes with his choking. When he calms, Keith looks up at her, then at Lance.

Blood trickles from the corner of his mouth.

“Keith,” Lance soothes, finally snapping out of his terror-induced panic. “I’m gonna pick you up, okay?” He approaches Keith slowly, who just looks up at him with wide, confused eyes.

“You gonna cradle me?” He downright giggles, worryingly carefree despite his life-threatening predicament. “Are we gonna have a bonding moment again?”

“Yeah, we are,” Lance acquiesces, playing into Keith’s delirium as much as he possibly can, though he’s clearly jarred by the circumstances. “And I’m not gonna forget this time. You gotta stay around to remind me, alright?”

But Keith just tuts in disapproval, huffing out another laugh, “Lance, you know I’m going to die.”

Pidge throws up.

Still, Lance persists, despite that his face has gone pale with the words. “No, no, that isn’t going to happen. Hear me? You’re not gonna die, Keith. We won’t let that happen.” Lance’s tone is firm and unwavering, making Pidge proud of how far he’s come. Handling a situation this grave has never been one of Lance’s strengths, but he’s come a long way. “Got that, mullet? I promise.”

“You hate me,” Keith laughs, tossing his hair out of his face. Surprisingly, he lets Lance position him, gently, to be carried. And when Lance hoists him up, Keith buried his face into his armor, as much as he can. “Why would you wanna save me if you hate me?”

“I-” Lance all but chokes on his tongue, unable to respond for a brief moment. “I don’t hate you. I never did, but I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.”

“It doesn’t matter, really,” Keith giggles, turning now to look at Pidge. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He tosses his head back, nearly cackling with laughter. In that moment, Pidge decides it’s the worst thing she’s ever experienced. Yet Keith just keeps laughing. “Nothing matters because I’m dying!”

The exclamation seems to ring throughout the walls, now void of life except for them. Tears form in Pidge’s eyes, and when she looks at Lance, she finds that he’s crying too. They both know what’s going to happen.

They both know Keith isn’t going to live.

“Keith,” Pidge nearly sobs, “thank you for saving us.” The injured boy just nod in response, smiling gently at her. It’s understood between the two of them that Keith would do it over in a heartbeat, wouldn’t even think twice. It just makes her sad to think about how he’d give anything for them - without believing he deserved the same. They hadn’t made him feel important, cherished, irreplaceable. “Keith, we love you, okay?”

Pidge looks to Lance for affirmation, then back at Keith, who’s growing weaker in his arms. Now, blood doesn’t just trickle on his cheek. Now, it covers his lips, now it stains his teeth, now it colors his tongue. Pidge knows that’s a sign of internal bleeding. As if they hadn’t figured that out yet. As if they metal hadn’t completely pierced Keith’s insides. And then Keith whispers, barely audible.

“Okay.”

Despite the inevitable, Lance runs and Pidge follows. But by the time they’ve reached the castle, Keith is unresponsive once again.

They don’t even have to check for a pulse to know that he’s gone.


	17. Voice Breaking - Keith

Shiro isn’t sleeping when he hears a knock at the door.

The time on the clock reads half past two in the morning, but he isn’t even slightly tired. There is nothing fatigued about the tension in his muscles, the nervous bounce of his leg, or the racing of his thoughts. Sleep evades his troubled mind, subsequently tethering him to the dreadful yet exciting reality that will face him at dawn.

Because tomorrow he leaves for Kerberos.

A foolish part of him hopes that Adam waits on the opposite side of the door, just so Shiro can hold him close and apologize. One last time. Before he flees to outer space.

Shiro knows better than that, though. Adam is just as stubborn as he is hurt, and he probably won’t even show face at the launch. It’d be too painful for both of them. Adam knows that. So does Shiro. When, or if, he sees Adam again, it will only be once he’s returned.

He knows it isn’t Adam behind the door. It’s Keith.

With all of his usual fire and overwhelming emotion, Keith stares daggers into Shiro as soon as the door opens. He takes a step forward, fists clenched at his sides, and furrows his brows threateningly. “You— I hate you!”

The statement catches Shiro off guard, who backs up a few steps and raises both hands to appear non-threatening. He regards Keith with caution, like he’s a feral animal that hasn’t eaten, like he will attack at any moment and raise hell. Shiro’s almost scared. That is, until he realizes.

Keith is drunk.

Whether it’s the light blush on his cheeks or the wavering of his voice, Shiro notices. And it makes his stomach drop guiltily, especially knowing that Keith always has a reason when he drinks. He drinks to lose feeling, he drinks to be numb, he drinks to forget.

“First, you hide the fact that you’re dying, and then you decide to go on this suicide mission?!” Keith screams, taking a menacing step forward and clumsily placing a palm on his chest. He pushes a bit, but Shiro barely budges. It seems to frustrate Keith further. “You’re fucking awful, you know?!”

“Keith—” he tries, but the boy wants no part in it. Shiro watches as Keith closes his eyes, lowering his gaze to the floor and dropping his head. It’s acceptance, resignation, defeat.

“I know I’ve never been someone that people stick around for,” he sighs, shoulders slack with the movement. A pang of sympathy hits Shiro. “I mean, my own mother didn’t even want me. I don’t blame you for leaving me. But do you know how many other people you’re hurting?”

Silence settles between the two. Shiro knows the impact of his choice better than anyone. He lost the love of his life, thanks to his decision. And Shiro also knows that Adam is who Keith is referring to. Though at first Keith had been hesitant to trust the man, they came to be like family. Mismatched and imperfect, yet still complete.

“Don’t you get it?” Keith practically growls. “We need you here! You’re just being selfish!”

And that’s when Shiro snaps.

“You’re the one being selfish! You can’t accept that this makes me feel fulfilled!” Shiro fumes, pushing Keith with more force than necessary. He collides with the wall behind him, inhaling a sharp breath, but it doesn’t cease Shiro’s frustration. “I need to do this! It’s like you don’t even want me to be happy! You just don’t get it, Keith. I don’t have much time left. And I’d rather die reaching for the stars than be stuck on Earth.”

And despite the fact that Shiro’s just trying to justify his decision to choose his passion, that isn’t what Keith hears. Keith hears betrayal. Keith hears abandonment.

What Keith hears is that Shiro doesn’t wanna be stuck with him.

Shiro immediately wants to take back the words, take back his anger, but as soon as he reaches out to comfort Keith, the boy flinches violently away from him.

And if he wasn’t aching with guilt before, now he is. The idea of Keith being scared, scared of him, is just so awful that he can barely breathe. He knows that this is Keith’s defensive mechanism, ingrained on him from terrible experiences of his childhood, but it’s still heart-wrenching to realize that he just reminded Keith of the people who abused him. “Oh god, Keith,” he starts, approaching Keith cautiously. “You know I didn’t mean—”

“Whatever,” he hisses, trying to sound tough. But his voice breaks.

Then, Shiro notices the shake of his shoulders, the trembling of his hands. Though Keith’s expression is his hidden by his hair, head bowed, Shiro knows what he’d see there. Wide eyes. Tear stains. Salty cheeks. Trembling lip. Reddened nose.

Keith still hides his face as he turns toward the door, stomping on his way out. And just for good measure, he spits his farewell.

“Fuck you, Shiro. I hope you don’t come back”

The malice in his watery tone hurts, as well as the slam of his own door. It’s just as bad of a sting as when Adam left. It’s actually almost worse. Because though he knows he hurt his fiancé, he knows Adam at least has a support system. That he’s stable. That he’s an adult with an grown-up understanding of Shiro’s dilemma.

And Keith’s words hurt him more than thought they would. As he lays back in bed to rest up for his big day, he replays the encounter over and over, over and over, trying to forget the hostility in Keith’s voice.

Anger is just how Keith deals with his emotions, he reminds himself, he’s only fourteen after all.

And somehow, that fact doesn’t make Shiro feel any better.


End file.
